Bluesound Node - New 2021 model!!

[Rhinonine]

This is great news. I know a lot of people have been waiting patiently.
I wonder if there's any perceivable difference between coax and usb.

If I've got it right the dac clocks the data flow using USB rather than the sending device but over coax it's the sending device that controls the data flow. Whether it sounds any better will be dac dependent, my dac sounds best using the USB input it isn't a massive difference though.

 

[Chibs]

If I've got it right the dac clocks the data flow using USB rather than the sending device but over coax it's the sending device that controls the data flow. Whether it sounds any better will be dac dependent, my dac sounds best using the USB input it isn't a massive difference though.

Cool, which Dac do you have? I'm using the Pontus 2 and have no clue if USB is supposed to sound better thank coax on mine. Will be interesting to try I guess.
Chibs

 

[Rhinonine]

Cool, which Dac do you have? I'm using the Pontus 2 and have no clue if USB is supposed to sound better thank coax on mine. Will be interesting to try I guess.
Chibs

My dac is a bit long in the tooth an audiolab m-dac.

 

[Chibs]

Just got an update with no release notes. Not sure if this is the one that unlocks usb though.

 

[Chibs]

Connected to Gustard X16 via USB and boom, bit perfect through USB!
Finally!
Chibs

 

[alsorkin]

Connected to Gustard X16 via USB and boom, bit perfect through USB!
Finally!
Chibs

Not good for me after the update installed with Node connected to my Topping D90MQA DAC I cannot stream MQA from Radio Paradise or Tidal Masters (only CD quality). Also same problem when direst Headphone pug into front of Node 3.5mm port. Do I need to do a factory reset?

 

[Rhinonine]

Not good for me after the update installed with Node connected to my Topping D90MQA DAC I cannot stream MQA from Radio Paradise or Tidal Masters (only CD quality). Also same problem when direst Headphone pug into front of Node 3.5mm port. Do I need to do a factory reset?

I read on the community forums that mqa through usb will come later on.
Explained in post number 3
https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/1500001251382-Node-Gen-3-future-USB-output

 

[HK_sends]

They probably have to clear a bunch of licensing issues so it's better to make sure USB out is working well before implementing MQA.
Sucks, but does make sense.
Cheers!
-HK sends

 

[alsorkin]

They probably have to clear a bunch of licensing issues so it's better to make sure USB out is working well before implementing MQA.
Sucks, but does make sense.
Cheers!
-HK sends

Doesn't explain why the MQA sources (Radio Paradise and Tidal Masters) are now only available as CD quality after the update. Also the USB input to the Topping is repeatedly cutting out every second or so. I sent a support ticket to Blusound.

 

[Rhinonine]

Doesn't explain why the MQA sources (Radio Paradise and Tidal Masters) are now only available as CD quality after the update. Also the USB input to the Topping is repeatedly cutting out every second or so. I sent a support ticket to Blusound.

I don't have an mqa supporting dac and the RP mqa stream is 24/88.2.

 

[Chibs]

Doesn't explain why the MQA sources (Radio Paradise and Tidal Masters) are now only available as CD quality after the update. Also the USB input to the Topping is repeatedly cutting out every second or so. I sent a support ticket to Blusound.

Oh that's no good! MQA seems to cause so much more headache than it's worth.
Perhaps it's time to jump on the lossless high resolution team through Quobuz or Amazon.
Chibs

 

[alsorkin]

Oh that's no good! MQA seems to cause so much more headache than it's worth.
Perhaps it's time to jump on the lossless high resolution team through Quobuz or Amazon.
Chibs

Appears to be a result of the update not an MQA source problem as I access both RP and Tidal MQA fine on my DAPs right now.

 

[alsorkin]

Appears to be a result of the update not an MQA source problem as I access both RP and Tidal MQA fine on my DAPs right now.

Correction....only the Tidal source on my DAPs is MQA since RP MQA is exclusive to Blusound.

 

[Chibs]

Doesn't explain why the MQA sources (Radio Paradise and Tidal Masters) are now only available as CD quality after the update. Also the USB input to the Topping is repeatedly cutting out every second or so. I sent a support ticket to Blusound.

Did a bit of research and according to "enricoclaudio" on ASR, try this:

Yep. I already tried it with my Topping E50 and it works perfectly fine. USB output is fully working. With Roon, you have to enable MQA Core Decoder and setup the NODE as Renderer only, otherwise you will get dropouts every 5 secs.

Chibs

 

[alsorkin]

Did a bit of research and according to "enricoclaudio" on ASR, try this:

Yep. I already tried it with my Topping E50 and it works perfectly fine. USB output is fully working. With Roon, you have to enable MQA Core Decoder and setup the NODE as Renderer only, otherwise you will get dropouts every 5 secs.

Chibs

How do you setup the Node as a render only?